"You shall call me by any name that pleases you," he said, smiling at her, and speaking very gently, for she was still in mourning, and looked very fragile and petite.
"Thanks. And yet I am not a little nervous. I don't know how you'll quite take the alterations I have made, whether you will think I have been too presumptuous. I shall watch your face with an anxious eye when I take you over the place presently."
"My only feeling is one of intense gratitude," he said; "and I can't express my thanks and surprise that you should have taken so much trouble. I had an idea that the place was all right, that what was good enough for my uncle——"
She winced slightly, but smiled bravely.
"No, Drake; he was an old man, and came here but seldom; you are young, and, I hope, will spend a great deal of time here. After all, it is your real English home."
He nodded, but not very assentingly.
"I don't know," he said, rather moodily. "I am rather a restless mortal, and find it difficult to settle in any one place."
"Have you been well?" she asked, as she saw his face plainly, for he had turned to the window.
"Oh, yes; quite," he replied.
She looked at him rather doubtfully.